Describing Sirius Black
by pablodivaridesagain
Summary: Through Professor McGonagall's eyes, we see Sirius' sorting and what she thought about it.


**Title: Describing Sirius Black**

**Author: Pablo**

**Summary: Through Professor McGonagall's eyes, we see Sirius' sorting and what she thought about it.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Shout-out(s): J.K Rowling, smarty pants you. Snow, you rock and I'm glad that I put up with you because who else would beta my stuff? (jk) (teehee)**

You look at him and you know you've seen his face. It's the same face that you saw when Lucius Malfoy came in five years earlier, and when all three Black sisters started.

It's the same chiseled jawbone, small, button nose, abnormally high cheekbones, splash of barely-there freckles and dazzling gray eyes. When you see his face, you see the face of nearly every pureblood child.

Sirius Black is the example of a perfect pureblood. He's the result of very careful breeding that has gone on for hundreds of generations. He has the looks, the brains and the talent. Unfortunately for them, Walburga and Orion Black may have produced too much perfection when they gave birth to their prodigal child.

He smirks as he stands with the other frightened children and you don't like him on sight. The black-haired child is haughty and is surrounded by other pureblood future Slytherins. They treat him as something like a prince.

You call his name ("Sirius Black!") and he walks up slowly, sitting on the stool with a straight back and an almost comical aristocratic expression. The only reason why you don't laugh is because he seems to read your mind and fixes his stony eyes on you, almost daring you.

It's with great pleasure that you finally place the Hat on his head. The Hat takes considerably more time than anyone in the entire hall expected, and you can see faint signs of emotion flickering rapidly across his sculptured features.

The cry of "GRYFFINDOR!" echoes throughout the hall and then nothing happens.

You stand, still and silent, with the rest of the hall as what the Hat has said sets in. Sirius looks as though he is about to throw up or faint or start having a royal tantrum right on the floor in front of the entire school. But he doesn't, for which you are thankful.

Finally you find your voice. "Go sit down, Mr. Black," you say quietly as so no one else can hear. Sirius looks up at you, almost pleadingly, and you suddenly glimpse past those cool gray eyes into Sirius' heart and you realize: Sirius Black, even though he is the perfect pureblood, is also just a _child_.

He stands and you glance over at the Slytherin table. Bellatrix Black looks as though she is about to have a coronary, Narcissa has a worried expression (for what, you wonder in a brief moment ages and ages later) and Lucius Malfoy has a sour look about him, as though he just ate a bad apple.

The entire hall watches Sirius' progression to the Gryffindor table. Much to your mild disappointment, no one claps for him, only stares. He slips on the bench and gazes at the table. You can tell that he's blatantly avoiding looking over at his cousins, who are all glaring at the back of his head as though they could make him burst into flames.

Finally, when Albus coughs subtly, you realize you still have dozens of more names to call. So you do. The rest of the sorting goes by fairly quickly, with the exception of a minor upset when Lily Evans walks through the crowd of first years to the Gryffindor table and James Potter trips her, causing the redhead to slap him.

When it is all said and done with, there are eleven new children in your house, Sirius Black the surprising first. As the feast commences, you watch the first years with mild curiosity and major apprehension.

If this dark haired child is as bigoted and priggish as his family, he will not take to the nine other non-purebloods (James Potter is the only other pureblooded child that passed through to Gryffindor, but everyone knows that the Potters are the worst set of blood traitors around and that the major pureblood families [meaning the Blacks, Malfoy's, Lestrange's and Nott's hate the Potters)

When James Potter suddenly shoves Sirius, half the staff table is watching, and some even half-stand up to intervene if things get ugly. But Sirius looks at James as though he's an uncivilized lout and goes back to barely eating his food.

Any one with eyes can tell that this is not the reaction that James was looking for. He eyes Sirius critically, looking for any emotion other than disinterest to cross his face, but when it doesn't, he shrugs and forgets about whatever was going on in his strange little head.

You find yourself sighing with relief when the eating is over and Albus stands to make his speech. Instead of paying absolute attention like you would normally, you watch the Gryffindor first years out of the corner of your eye. Sirius watches the headmaster but you can see his eyes glaze over after a moment. A similar expression is on James' face, and you can momentarily see how they would make great friends, if there weren't that strife between their families.

Much too soon, Albus is finished and the students are following their prefects to the dorms. Sirius walks alone, but you see James, a pale boy named Remus Lupin that you vaguely remember having some sort of unusual setback and that pudgy little Muggle-born, Peter Pettigrew watching him and talking in hushed whispers. Obviously not hushed enough, because Sirius is getting tenser and redder every passing moment.

"I'm concerned, Albus." you confess to your closest and oldest friend. He looks at you, the twinkle in his eye still gleaming brightly and smiles comfortingly.

"Don't worry about Mr. Black. If what they say about him is true, he will get on just fine." Albus tells you and that's the end of that.

But you can't help your feelings as you go to sit down for breakfast the next day, and Sirius walks in to the hall, chatting awkwardly with Remus and Peter. He and James still haven't crossed that boundary yet.

For one brief, lovely moment, you ignore your gut feelings and you tell yourself that nothing's going to happen, that you're just a silly old woman letting your worries take over. But then there's uproar at the Slytherin table. Bellatrix, Narcissa, Lucius, Rodolphus, Rabastan and the entire posse of Slytherin pureblood rich kids are pointing at an owl. You catch the name over the shouts ("Walburga sent Diablo! She must be going _ape_! The little mother bites!") And then Sirius looks up and gets paler, if at all possible.

Then you see why Slytherin is so excited about this. They saw the red and knew it was a Howler. Dread rises so quickly from your stomach to your throat that you put a hand to your mouth.

"Open it! If you don't, it explodes!" Andromeda Black whispers harshly to her young cousin across the aisle way between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. He does so and it lets out a shriek so deafening that not a sound is made throughout the entire hall.

_"Sirius Orion Black! HOW DARE YOU? You have embarrassed your father and I and I will not stand for it! You are to go to Dumbledore and ask for a resorting _IMMEDIATELY!_ Do you hear me? I said immediately! Your cousin will be informing me of what you are doing until the holidays! Sirius, you are a useless, stupid boy and when you get home, your father is going to sort you out! I'll make sure of it! AUGH—" _Walburga lets out another shrill screech at this point, and everyone covers their ears in the surrounding area—"_you are a disgrace to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black! For centuries, we have been an envied and most sought after family! Now you just destroyed _everything!_ If you so much as _dare _become a blood traitor, don't bother coming home! You will be _disowned!"

With that last lovely remark, the Howler rips itself up and all is silent. Even Andromeda and Bellatrix look faintly embarrassed at their aunt's cruel remarks. Every single emotion is devoid from Sirius' face; he almost looks wax with his unusually flawless features.

The other Gryffindors sitting near Sirius are looking at him with slight concern, but none of them go to talk to him out of fear of being the thing he takes out his anger on. You can tell that if Sirius weren't a proud boy, he would've taken off out of the hall and curled up underneath his bed. But he just sat there, eating quietly and avoiding anybody else's gaze.

"You know what?" James Potter suddenly blurts loudly and everyone looks at him to see what. Even Sirius is shocked out of his stubborn silence and gazes at the messy haired boy.

"Your mother sounds like a _peach_. I hope she disowns you, because then I could have her all to myself!" James proclaims to the bewildered Sirius. You can tell that the other boy is trying to decipher whether he is serious or not, because James managed to say all of that with a completely straight face.

Finally, Sirius comes out with whatever it was he was going to say. "You're completely barking, you know that, don't you?" he divulges and goes calmly back to his meal while James howls with laughter. The rest of the hall takes this statement, as their cue to begin talking amongst themselves and you are grateful that James has decided to make nice with Sirius. They would be good for each other, you conclude.

Seven years later, and you will curse yourself for this thought. Sirius Black and James Potter are single handedly responsible for thousands upon thousands of pranks that almost put you into early retirement (the most memorable prank of theirs was the time that they managed to get their hands on Polyjuice Potion and turned themselves into teachers, docking every single point that the Slytherins had and break dancing during dinner time in front of the entire school)

Years later, even after James dies and Sirius Black is revealed to you as innocent to the crime that he didn't commit, you will look in the mirror, see the gray hairs sticking from your scalp, and know immediately which two particularly troublesome boys are the cause of all of it.

Of course, when Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger come to Hogwarts, your hair turns white, but that's an entirely different story for an entirely different time.


End file.
